Owen Garwood looks a statue of Liberty durng the Ellis Island reenactment staged by members of the third grade at Gwynedd Mercy Academy elementary school. Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Photo by Geoff Patton

LOWER GWYNEDD — Third-grade students at Gwynedd Mercy Academy Elementary School took a trip back in time and walked in the footsteps of the millions of immigrants who came before them during a special project Tuesday.

Students re-enacted the experience many immigrants to the United States faced as they passed through Ellis Island during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, inside the school’s gym May 6.

Dressed in period clothing, students carried luggage and paperwork with them as they the made their way off the SS Gwynedd, Mercy and Academy ships, passing the Statue of Liberty and into the nine Ellis Island inspection stations.

“It’s called dramatic play,” said Gwynedd Mercy third-grade teacher Jessica Cressman. “It’s a simulation of an immigrant’s experience at Ellis Island, going through the various stations, having gotten off the ferry and then experiencing what it would be like to pass through the different stations or be detained if they misbehaved. Some (could) be deported but we haven’t had any of that.”

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Among the various activities students participated in were a medical exam and legal debriefing, baggage check, currency exchange and a train ticket box office in order to travel around the country. Students then signed their names on the Wall of Honor to show they’d made it through the process. Along the way, parent volunteer immigration inspectors manning the stations put students through the ringer, as they questioned them and searched their personal items for weapons and contraband. Not an item was overlooked, including their precious teddy bears. Some students were even detained in a holding area for two minutes, which helped to make the experience feel more real.

“(Parents) are staying true to their characters,” Cressman said with a chuckle. “Especially with their own child.”

Afterward, students fast-fowarded about 10 years for a naturalization ceremony where they sang “God Bless America.”

This is the second year the third-grade team has held the dramatic play, Cressman said, and explained that the project helped connect generations. As part of an ongoing social studies unit on immigration to Ellis Island, students and parents researched their ancestors to find out if they had any family members who passed through the famous port. Students then used their family member’s name for the immigrant character they portrayed during the dramatic play. Most students bought into the serious nature of their performance and tried not to smile.

“We told them to stay in character because it’s dramatic play,” Cressman said. “We said they could smile, but they’ve got to stay serious, because if you fooled around as an immigrant you would probably get pulled to the side and they might question you, you might be detained. So, if that would embarrass you, you might want to stay in character all the time.”

Students who made it through said the experience allowed them to travel through time and see life through the eyes of their distant relatives.

Nine-year-old Dean Shacklett, dressed as his maternal great-grandfather, Marek Konieczny, said he was enjoying the experience.

“I really like it because we get to dress up,” he said, adding his favorite part was making it through all the different stations.

Nine-year-old William Bushnell, dressed as his paternal great-grandfather Ladis Suha, said his favorite part was getting off the “ship” and beginning his journey to America.

Cressman said during the research portion of the project, her students found that they all came from immigrants.

“We actually tallied up where our ancestors came from by country, and everyone in my homeroom, and I think in the other rooms too, everyone was a descendant of an immigrant,” she said. “Whether through the port of Ellis Island [or others], we learned about the ports, in Philadelphia, Charleston, Baltimore. We learned about Angel Island in San Francisco. So there were many places that they came from.”

She said by incorporating real family members and putting students through the paces, history came to life and allowed students to gain a sense of ownership about the experience.

“It became real to them,” she said. “They started to understand what it would have been like.”